CANADA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Where Does Quality Grow From? By David Parton —Mobility in Motion PRESIDENT, NMEDA CANADA
W
hat is quality, how do you
line in achieving quality. Hang high on
measure quality, why is
the walls all the training certificates
quality even important?
your technicians have dedicated
The population we in the mobility industry serve, in operations big and not so big, have a unique set of needs. We have a duty of care to ensure that those needs are met. Customer service is so much more than a comfortable waiting area or available wifi and comfortable chairs. It is always appropriate to share a smile, explain the process, and share
time to receiving. You, the dealer principal, paid for that training, taking technicians off the shop floor and placing them into a service school to receive training to be competent and capable technicians. Quality comes from competent and trained technicians. Now where does all of this fit in with NMEDA? This is, after all, the NMEDA
certainly unique and diverse. The answer given was that they had factory-trained technicians and they had no need for NMEDA. Factorytrained technicians certainly bring many advantages, but, if I need surgery on my eye, I go to a specialist with training and experience in that niche of the medical field. An ear/ nose/and throat specialist is not far off, but my expectation of a quality result would not be high. Let’s be honest about this, much of
what they should expect when we are
quarterly publication.
done with our work. But all this is of
I spoke with a dealer principal and
is unique and often specialized.
little value if the quality of our actual
asked why his organization has not
The outcomes from an experienced
work is substandard.
joined NMEDA. The dealership is
technician have a quality that is not
The place quality grows always starts
connected to a major manufacturer,
readily replicated. A technician who
and they represent a top-quality
may be OEM factory-trained is not
or senior management, board of
conversion product. My suggestion
automatically “Mobility Trained.” We
directors, is focused on profit first,
that association membership
“
must often think outside the box to
at the top. If the dealer principal
quality does not have its rightful place. Profit is not a dirty word. If we do not remain solvent, quality will be the first thing to go—but quality should never be given a place below profit. Quality work leads to quality outcomes, and satisfied customers will share their
what is done in the mobility business
Profit is not a dirty word. If we do not remain solvent, quality will be the first thing to go.”
bolstered with the QAP program
achieve the goals of our clients and
satisfied outcome. This is relatively
audits and the top quality service
make it all fit into their choice of
speaking, a small community.
schools offered to members, should
automotive transport.
Staff training is an investment the
have represented good value if this
dealer principal makes from the
store has a real commitment to this
desire to have quality work and
aspect of the automotive world.
quality outcomes. The dealer shop/
We are mobility dealers, we are
service department holds the front
somewhat unique, and our clients are
20
NMEDA Circuit Breaker
Hand controls in a Mazda Miata anyone? We’ve done that. NMEDA as it exists today is the embodiment of many years of cooperation and collaboration to
